India
Bhangarh, Rajasthan: In the first half of the 17th century, Madho Singh of Amber built his capital here with the sanction of an ascetic Baba Balanath, who meditated there, but not without his dire prediction: "Look my dear chap! The moment the shadow of your palace touches me, you are undone. The city shall be no more!" In ignorance, Ajab Singh, one of the dynasty's later descendants, raised the palace to such a height that the shadow reached the forbidden place. Hence the devastation.
The second myth is as follows: A tantric battle waged between the lovely queen Ratnavali and the wicked sorcerer Singha Sevra, who was attracted by the queen's beauty. Singha Sevra chhatri can be seen on the top of the hill. Desperately, he tried to trap her in his magical web, and failed every time, as the queen herself was a past-mistress in the tantric art.
The last battle took place on the day when the queen losing eventually her temper, transformed a glass bottle containing the massaging oil into a big rock and flung it towards the hill-top, where sat the devil. In vain he tried to stall this glass missile. It was too late. Sensing his imminent death, concentrating all his powers, he spat his dying curse: "I die! But thou too, thou Ratnavali shall not live here anymore. Neither thou, nor thine kin, nor these walls of the city. None shall see the morning sun!". The night was spent transferring the palace treasures to the new site of Ajabgarh. In the morning came the tempest levelling everything to the ground.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has put up a signboard at Bhangarh stating (among others): "Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited." Tourists who visit this place say that there is a strange feeling in the atmosphere of Bhangarh, which causes symptoms of anxiety and restlessness.
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